AI transformation 🤖, age of scaling ⚖️, investor call framework 📚

Many companies are bragging about AI adoption, but their hallway conversations tell a different story: employees haven't opened AI tools in weeks ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

Sign Up |Advertise|View Online TLDR Together With  TLDR Founders 2025-12-03 The monetization model powering Lovable's breakout growth (Sponsor) As Lovable's growth rocketed, they needed a new way to price AI. While traditional SaaS pricing models are breaking down, it's not yet clear what will take their place. In this live webinar, Elena Verna, Lovable's Head of Growth, will share pricing strategies her team uses to better reflect the value AI delivers. Join to learn: 1️⃣ Why AI has upended the logic of SaaS pricing and why there's still no clear playbook 2️⃣ How Lovable navigates the tension between self-serve and enterprise monetizations 3️⃣ What it takes to evolve from usage-based pricing to outcomes-based value Save your seat 📈 Headlines & Trends Bet the farm (3 minute read) Many companies are bragging about wide-scale AI adoption, but their hallway conversations tell a different story: many employees haven't opened AI tools in weeks. Dashboards are showing logins, not usage. This is transformation theater. Companies that go all in on AI by making it mandatory tell a different story: increased revenue and lower headcount. The best people see the theater and leave for places where transformation is real. The Age of Scaling Is Over! (4 minute read) AI labs have spent five years betting that more data and more GPUs would solve everything. That bet is no longer paying off. As scaling laws flatten, the industry is shifting focus to "test-time compute", forcing models to spend more resources reasoning during a task rather than just training bigger brains. 🧠 Strategies & Tactics 9 Reasons ICPs Don't Book A Demo (5 minute read) Most companies run ads before they actually know who they're selling to. The "GTM Delta" framework forces you to fix your foundation, "Market and Message," before spending a dime on sales plays. If you don't know exactly who your buyer is, automation just scales your failure. Stop dumping "content libraries" on prospects. Your job isn't to be a library - it's to be a guide. The Investor Call Framework (4 minute read) The moment you lose control of the meeting structure is the moment you lose the investment. Investors judge your leadership potential based on your ability to drive a conversation, not just your slide deck. A winning 30-minute call requires a strict psychological sequence: Intro, Context, Proof, Ask, and Next Steps. Do not wait for the VC to lead the discussion. You set the agenda, you frame the problem, and you define exactly what happens after the call ends. ⚒️ Tools & Resources Why SaaS companies should own their payment process (Sponsor) If you allow an external provider to display their branding on your checkout, you're disrupting the customer journey and promoting another brand instead of your own. Learn how to avoid these common mistakes in NMI's guide to white-label payments. Want to see how embedded payments will work in your app? Get a demo (or sandbox account) True3D banners (Tool) Turn your existing image or video creative into an interactive ad that reduces CPC by 30%. Clover Security (Tool) Design-led product security with AI agents that act like experienced security architects and extend the team's reach. RunLLM (Tool) RunLLM is an AI agent that resolves technical issues by reading logs and code. 🎁 Miscellaneous The Awkward Exit: $150M to $300M Acquisitions (5 minute read) A $200M exit is often life-changing for a founder but a failure for a Series C investor. This "Grey Zone" creates boardroom deadlock. Early investors (Seed/Series A) are happy with a 5x return, while late-stage funds that underwrote a $1B outcome may block the sale to avoid a write-down. The solution: negotiate secondary sales during your growth rounds. Silicon Valley Builds Amazon and Gmail Copycats to Train AI Agents (6 minute read) Several Silicon Valley startups have spent the past several months recreating popular websites so AI systems can learn to navigate the internet and complete specific tasks on their own. If an AI system learns to use a replica of the site, it can use the real site, too. The shadow sites are a significant part of the tech industry's efforts to transform chatbots into AI agents. Many companies believe that AI agents will be able to replace some white-collar workers in the coming years. ⚡ Quick Links A beta is like inviting guests over (2 minute read) The main advantage of a beta is not research - it is basic hygiene. Vanity Activities (2 minute read) Optimization often masks itself as productivity. Jeff Bezos on the 4 principles that differentiated Amazon (2 minute read) Amazon's edge comes from four simple habits: obsessing over customers, inventing instead of copying, thinking in 5–7 year horizons, and taking operations seriously. Love TLDR? Tell your friends and get rewards! Share your referral link below with friends to get free TLDR swag! https://refer.tldr.tech/fbea1bf0/7 Track your referrals here. Want to advertise in TLDR? 📰 If your company is interested in reaching an audience of founders, executives, and decision makers, you may want to advertise with us. Want to work at TLDR? 💼 Apply here or send a friend's resume to jobs@tldr.tech and get $1k if we hire them! If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email! Thanks for reading, Andrew Tan & Kevin Wu Manage your subscriptions to our other newsletters on tech, startups, and programming. Or if TLDR Founders isn't for you, please unsubscribe. mlrch-e98b1d425981a6